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Friday, 12 February 2016

GUEST BLOG: First you see it, now you don’t….then you do again

The recent results of the Business Travel Show travel buyer survey show that NDC is now 17th on the list of travel buyer concerns compared to being at the top in 2013.

Paul Tilstone

With my session on NDC on the first morning of the show, I therefore naturally ask myself “why is this?”. Is it because people are just comfortable with NDC now and the consensus is that it will be what it will be or instead is it that people don’t see it impacting them in 2016 because since 2013 they can’t see any manifestation coming to market yet?

We know that it was front of mind in 2013 because it had recently been launched and the issue became a combative one in the press and on conference agendas, but things have moved on since then and these days all parties seem to recognise that NDC could help us find the solutions we desperately need. But it takes time to develop an industry standard and it was only formally launched at the end of 2015 so to judge its impact on 2016 based on the waves it has made to date would be unwise.

During my session I will be updating people on where the project is one year on from our session on NDC at the Business Travel Show last year. I will be sharing the names of companies involved in the project and what the benefits could be to buyers, TMCs and Self Booking Tools and you’ll get to hear from a company which you wouldn’t normally associate with business travel on how they are using the standard. This project is at a stage when we can all help to shape it, but in order to do so rather than have it be something we have to react to, we must remain engaged. See you at the show and make sure you arrive early enough to get yourself NDC ready…

This post was written by Paul Tilstone, co-founder of Festive Road. Paul is presenting a session on NDC at the Business Travel Show - to register for a free pass, please visit www.businesstravelshow.com